Track Meet's Love
by The Abyssal One
Summary: It's Leilah's first track meet and she's ready to go. Throughout the day she has a few interesting encounters, one more interesting than others. At the end of the day, something happens that she never would have thought possible.


Dawn was approaching, slowly creeping over the horizon as the minutes passed. The Blue Jays were singing, a few frogs croaked at each other, and if you searched long enough you could spot a neighbor's cat sleeping underneath the brush. A crisp summer breeze passed through a slightly ajar window, filling the room with a pleasant smell. A beam of sunlight crept through the blinds and illuminated a girl sleeping peacefully in her bed. Her dirty-blonde hair was strewn all over her pillow with a few strands resting over her face. Truly this was the definition of peaceful sle….

BEEEEP BEEP BEEP BEEEEP BEEP BEEP BEEEEP BE… THUD

The alarm clock fell to the ground with a thud, shutting off the hellish sounds as the girl retracted her arm under the blanket once more. She rolled over and pulled the covers above her face to shield her eyes from the sun's bright warming rays. "Annoying junk" she said, then muttered something inaudible about her dream that was cut far too short. In a few short minutes she was asleep once again, dreaming about her favorite p….

"Leilah! Time to get up! Don't forget you have a Track meet today!" Her mother shouted from downstairs.

Leilah groaned as she peeled the blankets off her face, revealing a bloodthirsty look in her eyes that clearly showed she was _not_ happy about being disturbed. After taking a moment to calm down and regain her normal composure, she got out of bed and began to get dressed and gather everything she'd need for her meet later.

Leilah's mother was down in the kitchen, fixing Scrambled Eggs and some French toast. "If that child doesn't get down here soon… Oh. Good morning sweetie, glad to see you're, well… moving around I suppose." She said as she saw her daughter walk into the kitchen. Her mother was a morning person, Leilah herself on the other hand wasn't. She simply nodded at her mother's wisecrack about her not being fully awake. Leilah made her way over to the fridge to pour a glass of orange juice before walking over to the table.

"What events are you competing in today?" Leilah's mother asked her.

"The one and two hundred meter sprints, triple jump, and the four by one hundred meter relay." She replied between bites of her French toast. "It's going to get hot today, so I'm bringing some extra water with me. I just hope we don't get cooked alive out in the sun all day."

"You'll be fine dear, just focus on doing your best today. By the way, you're eighteen now, shouldn't you be looking for a summer job soon?"

"Mom, it's only halfway through June. Plus I've got practice almost every day unless there's a meet. I'll look for a job around July when the season is almost over. It's not like I'll be going to college yet, so I don't need to earn a few thousand by this fall."

"Ok, but make sure to keep your eyes out for any possible job openings while you're out and about. Now hurry along, you'll be late for the bus."

"Ok mom." Leilah replied as she finished eating her eggs. She looked at the clock, 'I only have five minutes until the bus is here. Crap!' she thought to herself. She jogged down the hallway and into the bathroom to brush her teeth. As soon as she finished she ran back upstairs to grab her bag with her track shoes, change of clothes, water, and anything else she might need for the day. Just as she finished gathering the final items she heard the bus roll up in front of her house with a hiss of the brakes and two short honks.

"Leilah!"

"Coming mother!" she called back as she charged down the stairs and out the door her mother held open. "Love you, see you later tonight." She called back as she ran up to the bus.

The doors opened as she neared the bus. As she walked up the stairs the bus driver greeted her. "Good morning Leilah, I'm happy to see your enthusiasm but I honked to let you know I was here, not that you're late. We've got plenty of time, so make sure to save your energy for later." The bus driver said with a smile. She was a slightly larger woman, but by no means overweight. She had long black hair that complemented her darker skin.

"Yes Ms. Hynson. I'll take it easy next time." Leilah replied with a smile as she made her way down the aisles to her favorite seat. Girls had to be on the driver's side, boys on the opposite, it was a standard rule they had. Leilah approached booth number fourteen, also known as the seventh row. The numbers alternated from one side to the next, number one being at the front on the right side, number two was front left, three was the second row right side, and so on. Fourteen was her favorite number, and thankfully it fell on the girl's side of the bus.

Everyone on the bus wore the same uniform. The colors of their tank top and shorts were dark blue with a white strip at the sides of their shorts. Each tank top had the name of the team, Vikings, in orange with a white boarder. On the inside of each tank top was a tag with a number on it, to ensure the coaches knew who had or hadn't returned the uniform at the end of the season. It goes without saying that Leilah had number fourteen; there just wasn't any other number she wanted.

Ms. Hynson's voice came over the speaker, "We'll be making just three more stops to pick up the assistant coach and five more members of the team, and then we'll be on the freeway to the track. One more word from the head coach, don't go to sleep. We need you all fully awake and ready to go when we get to the track. Do your best today and show the other teams that we're going to win this meet." A few others shouted in agreement before returning to their conversations. Leilah decided to gaze out the window and let her mind wander for the rest of the trip.

* * *

"Ok everyone, off the buss. Grab the gear and lets get started with warm ups." Coach Brick said over the bus's loudspeakers. "Move our stuff up into the stands. No empty hands, everyone carries equipment even if you don't use it."

'Coach seems to be excited for our first meet. Wait, when did we get here?' Leilah thought to herself. 'Just a few minutes ago we left my house, right? Wow, time flies when I let my brain wander.' Leilah noticed almost everyone was already standing up and walking down the isle with their belongings. She quickly checked her phone to see what time it was. 'Already 12:30, afternoon, this is going to be a long day' she thought to herself. Leilah tossed her phone into her bag and got out of the booth.

Stepping off the bus she walked around to the driver's side to check for any more equipment they'd need. As she looked inside the bus compartments to see what was left her heart sank. "Shot puts. Great." As if her bad wasn't heavy enough, she now had another twenty or more pounds to carry. She pulled the crate full of metal cannonballs out from the bus before quickly losing her balance and letting the crate hit the ground. "Heavy pieces of hell." She muttered under her breath.

"Here, let me get these for you." An unfamiliar voice said. She looked up to see a boy, probably no more than a year older than her walking up to her. The first thing she noticed was his deep, black hair with the tips dyed a fiery red. He looked to be about five foot, ten inches, and a cross between skinny and muscular. He quickly picked up the full crate of shot puts and gave her a friendly nod before walking off.

"Wait," Leilah called after him. "Don't you want some help with those?"

"It's ok, Coach would kill me if I made you help with these. Besides, I'm the one that has to throw them today." He called back over his shoulder before walking around the back of the bus.

"Leilah, do me a favor and shut those compartments for me so I can park the bus." The driver called through the window.

"Ok Ms. Hynson. They're closed now." Leilah called to her a moment later. The bus began to roll forward as Leilah made her way onto the grounds. She rushed up to the stands where her team was setting up some tents to protect them from the sun between events. After everything was set up two of the captains called everyone out to the starting line.

When everyone was at the starting line one of the captains spoke up. "We'll take it nice and easy on you since it's the first meet. 800 Meter warm up jog then we'll move to stretching. Let's go!" He called out as everyone started running. The sea of dark blue and orange uniforms starting rounding the first bend with the head captain leading. Eight hundred meters was two laps, but after the first four hundred a few people started to drag behind. The captain's voice loudly called out "If anyone finishes more than ten seconds after me you'll run double during practice! Pick up the pace, you aren't grade school girls now move it!" Leilah decided to ignore the last comment he made.

After the "easy" warm up laps everyone lined up, forming six lines behind their captains. "High knees, go!" one captain shouted, as the six captains started jogging forward while thrusting their knees up to their chest. After about five seconds the next people in line followed, then the next line, and so on. "Butt kicks, go!" the next captain called out to the team. After another ten minutes of various stretches one captain called out what Leilah hated the most. "Final stretch, Rockets, lets go!" The captains leapt forward bringing one knee as high up to their chest as it would go, then alternating to the other while jumping as high as possible.

After the stretches were done the captains called everyone into a circle around them. "As some of you may know, before each meet we'll start with a team prayer. After stretches and then a prayer you'll be free to do as you wish. Make sure to keep an eye on what events are coming up, and get out there two events before yours to warm up." The head captain told everyone before bowing his head. "Let's pray. Dear Lord, we thank you for bringing us safely to another meet, and giving us a warm sunny day. We ask that you protect us from injury, give us strength to throw far, speed to run fast, and good teamwork in our relays. Let us show the other teams that we can keep up with them, and grant us strength to keep running throughout today. We ask you to bring us home safely at the end of the day without injury or accident. Amen."

Another captain stepped forward, "Hands up. Vikings on three, one, two, three, VIKINGS!" Everyone called out together. After finishing everyone headed back to the stands. Leilah's first event was near the beginning, so she quickly put on her cleats and made her way out to the far end of the track.

As she walked, Leilah could hear the clicking of her spikes hitting the concrete below as she did her best to do a heel walk down the stairs and into the track. She looked both ways and quickly jogged across the runway and into the field, walking to the third corner for the girl's one hundred meter sprint. "Boy's four by two hundred meter relay, we will be starting in ten minutes. Boy's four by two hundred meter relay, second call. Girl's one hundred meter sprint, first call." _**Click**_ The speaker echoed before quietly dying down.

Leilah began her own warm-ups in preparation for her event. She started with some light jogs on the field. Then some heel walks, followed by toe walks to stretch out her legs to the fullest. Pulling a muscle at the beginning of the season would suck after all. "Boy's four by two hundred meter relay, final call. Boy's four by two hundred meter relay, final call. Girl's one hundred meter sprint, second call. Boy's one hundred ten meter hurdles, first call " _**Click**_ The speakers echoed once more. After finishing with her toe walks she made her way across the track to the waist-level fence. She gripped the top bar with her right hand, facing to the side. She lifted up her right leg and began to do some leg swings, followed up with her left leg, then facing the fence and doing each leg side to side.

BANG

Leilah quickly turned her head when she heard the sound of the starting pistol. There wasn't anyone from her team running, but there was someone from another team that caught her eye. He was bent over, ready to start running once he received the baton from his team's starter. He had short brownish-ginger hair, and was wearing a black track uniform with an Orange fox logo on the side of his shorts. His team jersey had the words 'Fox Creek' written across the shoulders, the jersey itself revealed his well-built muscles.

'Starters are supposed to be fast, and he certainly looks more ready that those other five, but his teammate is the last one by a few seconds. Guess he better be fast' Leilah thought to herself as he turned and started a slow sprint as his starter got closer. She heard him call out "Stick" as he neared, passing it to the muscular boy as he began to take off. "Whoa…" Leilah said as he took off flying around the corner, behind by a good two seconds but eyes full of determination. It was hard to tell, but it seemed like he passed the other five teams and passed the baton to the third runner. A few more seconds and the anchor received the baton and took off running around the bend. Their team had gained some good time, but the second place team was gaining fast. Judging by the clock at the finish, they got passed and took second place by just a second or two.

"That's a bummer, they had a good run too." Leilah said out loud. She enjoyed watching the relay teams running more than the other events. It took a great deal of coordination to pass the baton without losing a lot of speed between passes. Leilah had that good coordination, and her fellow relay members had improved their own coordination with practice over the past three weeks. It's why she loved watching the relays, and even more to participate in them.

"Girl's one hundred meter sprint, final call. Boy's one hundred ten meter hurdles, second call. Girl's one hundred meter hurdles, first call." _**Click**_ The speaker called out.

'Ok, let's do this!' Leilah said to herself. She saw the gunman walk up and go through instructions for starting. Blocks, false starts, yada yada yada. She's heard this all before and not to be disrespectful, but she knew it by heart and decided to focus on the task at hand. The sign-in woman started listing off names, after getting a reply that the runner was accounted for she'd give them their heat and lane depending on times previous to that year.

"Leilah?" The woman asked.

"Here" Leilah replied.

"Heat two, lane number four." Came the reply. After finishing the list she spoke to the group of runners, "Heat one you have a minute to set up your blocks. Be ready."

'Ok Leilah, you got this. Lane four will take me to first place today. Good start, strong finish. You got this.' Leilah continued to pump herself up for her race. She was well suited to be a sprinter, standing at five foot eight inches. Thin but not scrawny or boney. Her 'assets' weren't huge and weighing her down, but enough to keep her pleased with herself. The less weight the better for running, but that didn't mean every runner had to sacrifice their body to the sport.

BANG

The first heat took off running and their teammates that held their blocks quickly removed said blocks from the track for the second heat to start. Leilah quickly moved her blocks into position, unfortunately she didn't have someone to hold her blocks but on the other hand they were the nice, expensive kind. 'I'll be fine, they won't slip.' she thought to herself.

"Runners, to your marks." The gunman called out. "Ready. Set…"

BANG

Leilah heard the sound of the starting pistol and sprung to action, powerfully kicking off her blocks. As her second foot came off the block… is stayed right in place, giving her the strong start she needed. Running as fast as she could, fighting to attain first place, she made her way down the track. As she neared the end she started getting tired, but fought past it and kept sprinting to the finish line. Leilah was in third place, but the girl in second foolishly slowed down before the finish line instead of running right through it. Leilah got second, of that much she was sure.

"Leilah, hand time of fifteen point four seven seconds. (15.47)" A person with a stopwatch called out. Then proceeded to give hand times to the other runners from various stopwatches the coaches held at the finish line. "Official times will be posted in the stands later. Good race girls"

Leilah took a moment to catch her breath. Turning around, she noticed that the hurdles were all set up and some runners were warming up for the boy's one hundred ten meter relay. She quickly spotted the ginger-muscle at the starting line, lane five. 'He just ran the relay, now he's doing hurdles with that small rest time?' Leilah exclaimed to herself. 'How?'

BANG

The hurdlers took off running; she watched them glide over the hurdles. She was fascinated how they could go over the hurdle, yet come so close to touching that they might as well have been phasing through the top of it. She immediately noticed the first place runner was the boy she had been subconsciously watching for half the race. As he passed by she realized he was ahead by a full hurdle, ten full meters of the rest of them. He was just about to clear the final hurdle, before falling short just an inch and crashing into it.

He was sent tumbling down, but surprisingly enough went straight into a roll and sprung forward in a desperate attempt to cross the finish line. Although he lost a lot of ground, he seemed to maintain it. The second place runner, if he was still in second place, crossed at the same time as the hurdler sitting on his face. "Josh, hand time of seventeen point zero eight seconds (17.08). Alex, hand time of seventeen point one four seconds (17.14)"

Leilah once more began walking to the start line to retrieve her water bottle. 'That must have hurt. Kind of cute too, what a shame.' She giggled to herself. Suddenly the loudspeaker came online, "Runners, there's a slight error with the camera at the finish line. We'll proceed shortly, you may continue to do warm up runs if you'd like." _**Click**_

After getting her water bottle she turned around to see the hurdler approaching her with a gentle smile on his scratched-up face. 'Oh my God. Is he smiling at me? I mean, he's… but why me? Is he going to ask me out! No, wait… that' can't be right he doesn't even know me…but what if? No! I'm not ready for this! Well… I mean he's ok looking… maybe I could just compliment him and turn him down? Yeah, I'll do that. Unless he's super romantic or…"

"Josh! That was amazing!" A voice called out from behind her as Josh walked right past Leilah and up to the girl behind her. The unnamed girl stood about the same height as Leilah, long brown hair and beautiful brown eyes that almost made her jealous. "You didn't plan to land on your face did you now?" She teased him. "Does it hurt?"

"I'm fine Hannah, just a little stinging. Maybe I did plan that though to get some attention, who knows?" He teased back, earning a light kiss on the cheek from her.

'That… that… ' Leilah stared in disbelief, lost in thought. 'That asshole! How dare he look at her like that with someone else in front of him! Doesn't he have a damn clue that there are other people between them?' She silently raged to herself. There was a nearly visible tick mark on her forehead, and you could almost see the steam spewing from her ears. 'What a jerk, for God's sake take some time to make sure you don't send someone the wrong..'

"WAH! Watch out!" Someone shouted, cutting off Leilah's angry thoughts. She turned towards the sound of the cry just in time too

THUD

"Ow-ow-ow-ow!" Leilah said to herself realizing that in her rage she wasn't watching where she was walking. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where I was walking. Are you…" She began to apologize quickly, looking up at the person that ran into her.

She immediately recognized the red-tipped black hair hanging just above his blue eye; almost at once she met his eyes. His deep blue eyes meeting her own dark brown eyes momentarily captivated her, shutting down almost every process of her brain. She looked at him for a moment, her heart began running a race of its own. After a few seconds she noticed his warm breath on her neck, and his right hand placed on a rather… inappropriate, area when he fell. A bright red blush quickly spread across her face.

The black-haired boy had a slightly different shade of red on his cheeks compared to the tips of his hair. He quickly realized the position of his hand after Leilah did, pulling back and getting off of her. "Crap, I'm so sorry about that. I was just warming up while they fixed the stuff and didn't stop in time when I saw you." He said so fast she could scarcely understand over the sounds of her rapidly beating heart.

He immediately helped her to her feet. "You're that guy from earlier." Leilah said, trying to break some of the silence between the two. "Uh… thanks for that. I'm Leilah."

"I'm Matt. No problem. I mean, glad I could help back there." He responded, clearly oblivious to the noise around them. "I uh, better get back to warming up. See you around." He said as he made his way to his blocks, being rushed by the gunman to get ready.

"Ok…" Leilah responded quietly before walking back to the stands. Her heart finally getting over the recent events that transpired. As she climbed the stairs she heard a faint call from the finish line. "Matt, hand time of eighteen point six two seconds (18.62)."

* * *

Later that evening Leilah was sitting in the stands, placing her belongings back into her bag. The heat of the day wasn't very kind, and a lot of the other athletes were exhausted from a long day of running. It was already dark out, nearing nine o' clock as the last event, the boy's four by four hundred meter relay was beginning. She was lost deeply in her thoughts, reflecting on the events throughout the day. She began thinking about the next few days; with no practice she had nothing to do. Going for a walk through the park seemed like an option, maybe taking some time to catch up on some reading. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone approaching from behind.

"Hey Leilah" A familiar voice said.

"Oh, hi Matt." She responded. "What's up?"

"Well, I… um. I'm really sorry about earlier. I was a bit shocked and wasn't thinking straight and didn't really make a good effort with my apology. I didn't hurt you did I?" Matt asked as he sat down besides Leilah.

"No worries, I'm fine. It hurt a little but I didn't have any injuries or trouble running today." Leilah reassured him as her cheeks took on a light red tint, remembering what had happened.

After a brief moment of silence Matt turned to Leilah. "Coach wants the Javelins back on the bus, the rest of the stuff has already been taken up there. Would you mind helping?" He asked her.

"Sure, they're at the edge of the stands, right?" She asked Matt. He gave her a nod in response and started walking down the stairs. Leilah quickly got up and caught up with him near the bottom. They retrieved the Javelins belonging to their team and began walking towards the bus.

After what seemed like ten minutes searching for the bus, Matt and Leilah finally made their way to the front doors. Matt reached up to pull them open, but they didn't budge. "Locked, darn. They need to go on the bus since there's no room in the compartments below. Guess we have to wait here for a while for the others, unless you want to head back."

Leilah shook her head, "No, I don't want to get lost trying to make our way back through the parking lot maze. Plus, we'd have to carry the Javelins again, let's just wait here." She replied. Matt simply nodded his head.

Despite the summer days being warm and long, it was past sunset and had already began to get chilly out. Leilah silently cursed herself for not bringing a jacket with her. She let out a slight shiver, catching the attention of Matt sitting beside her on the hard concrete. She stared at the stars above, wondering just how many were in the sky that night. After a few seconds she felt something being pulled around her, looking to her right she saw Matt resting his own jacket on her shoulders.

"Here, you look cold." Matt explained, as a small smile was just visible on his face under the moonlight. Leilah reached up to adjust his jacket on her shoulders. "The stars sure are beautiful tonight. Normally I can't see anything where I live between the clouds and the tall poplar trees." He said in a soft voice.

"Yeah." Leilah responded. "They really are beautiful."

A few minutes of silence passed as they gazed up into the starry-night sky. Shortly after they heard the sounds of the rest of their team walking through the parking lot. Matt cleared his throat. "So, um…" He said hesitantly. "I'm not doing anything this Saturday, would you like to hang out or something?" He asked nervously.

"You mean, like a… a date?" Leilah questioned equally as nervous.

"I-if you don't mind, I mean." Matt stuttered, clearly worried of what she might say to him. His mind started racing, 'Why did I ask her that? We just met, so things are, ugh. Why does this have to be confusing, if that didn't happen earlier then…'

"Sure." Leilah said quietly. "I wouldn't mind. What do you have in mind?"

"Well, I don't know. There's a nice park that we could go to, maybe get some lunch then head out for a while?" 'I've never dated before, is that a good plan for a first date? It's not really a date is it, but she did say she didn't mind when she asked if it was a date. I guess it's a good idea.' Matt debated with himself, unsure of what to do.

"That sounds like fun. Here, I'll give you my phone number and you can text me later. Plan on meeting my dad by the way. I'm sure he'll want to meet you before letting me go." Leilah gave him a sly smile.

Matt just laughed nervously. "Sure thing. I'll come by around two in the afternoon and we can by out of there within half an hour maybe?"

The group of athletes arrived at the bus shortly after Matt and Leilah finished talking. "All righty everyone, load up and lets get everyone home." Ms. Hynson called out to everyone as she made her way to unlock the doors. After a few seconds the bus roared to life and the team piled into the bus. Leilah went to her favorite seat and dropped her bags on the floor as a deterrent against anyone that might try sitting next to her. She leaned against the glass window, thinking about her date with Matt in two days.

She fell asleep during the hour-long bus ride to her house. After what seemed like just a few minutes she was awoken by the girl behind her, gently shaking her awake. "We're at your house, good job today. Get some good sleep for practice next week." The girl said. Leilah nodded her head in thanks and made her way to the front of the bus.

"Good night Ms. Hynson. Good night Coach Brick." She said as she walked down the bus steps. Her mother greeted her at the front door. "Hi mom." Leilah said wearily.

"Long day sweetie?" Her mother asked smiling.

"Yes. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow. I'm heading up to get some sleep." Leilah answered her mother.

"Good night, see you in the morning." Her mother said as she watched Leilah disappear into the house. She turned and waved to the bus driver before going back into the house.

Leilah fell onto her bed, too tired to undress herself from the long day. Sleep quickly overcame her, taking her off to a pleasant dream.


End file.
